Author
Topic: Translating DDS2 Famicom Rom - Help (Read 5532 times)

DDS2 is Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei 2 by the way, and I'm completely aware of Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei being available in English but I wanted to translate a rom and I chose this one. I tested out some translating with Zelda 1 JP, and some text changing with Zelda 2. With Zelda 2, I was able to find the alphabet byte values with the PPU viewer in FCEUX, so it made changing text easy. Even with Zelda 1 JP, the PPU sometimes had English along with JP text, but when there wasn't a sufficient amount of English text I would just change the PPU using TLP to modify the ppu in use. It worked great, and nothing broke so I thought I knew what I was doing. I went into DDS2 and had a really big smile due to the fact that it already has the english alphabet. I thought I was going to have to append it myself into the ppu but nahhhh (well, at least just the intro was lacking sufficient English text aside from "X" which was next to 19, but TLP saved me), however, ignoring all of that aside, I found that when trying to at least modify the picture's text below, that 199X is only in 1 area of the hex editor and its value is: FB FC FC FD. The Japanese character next to X on the ppu shows that its value is F2, and that's exactly what comes after FD in the hex editor, so this is definitely what I'm looking for. The thing is, when I try to modify F2 into FC, or FD, or FB, or really any other value (I've only chosen existing letters), than the below happens. Any idea why simple text changing turns the game into a graphical mess? I guess again I thought I knew what I was doing but I suppose I don't fully understand.

Right Side: Unmodified/Left Side Modified with XXXXXX after the first X

EDIT:

I instead modified the bottom text, and it didn't break. I'm gonna try the top text again but it's still pretty weird.

Are you positive that F2 is in fact text, rather than some bit of code that might reside between 199X and the text that comes after? Do you already have your table set up or is this one of the first experimental things you have done to this game?

Are you positive that F2 is in fact text, rather than some bit of code that might reside between 199X and the text that comes after? Do you already have your table set up or is this one of the first experimental things you have done to this game?

Yes, according to FCEUX but ACTUALLY I just noticed that I was blindly adding my new text in without realizing "01" was in the stream of bytes, and that represents nothing in the text. I skipped over that and this is what I've got so far.

Will report back if any other errors happen. The same thing happened during this as well:

I was modifying the text here, until I started getting characters out of bounds, and things started to really mess up. Didn't realize there was a "F0" that clearly represents a line break. I think I just need to slow down a bit and read the bytes before replacing them haha.

EDIT:

I figured it out! It was my problem for going too fast. I need to be careful not to mess with bytes representing non text.

EDIT 2:

Everything is going alright now. I believe FE also represents: "Move on to the next dialogue." I'm enjoying this a lot.

Once I wrap up testing on 1, Tom and I will be moving on to 2. I've only hacked the intro, which I posted screenshots of, and ripped all the text. The rest should soon follow.

Oh... you're the dudes that did that fantastic MT1 translation. I merely picked this up because I felt like I at least wanted (and others) to enjoy the Namco 163 over the KMT remake. The Namco 163 does sound superior afterall. I had no idea you guys were doing it at all. I guess I should just drop this project since it's in better hands. It was fun while it lasted ;_;

Oh... you're the dudes that did that fantastic MT1 translation. I merely picked this up because I felt like I at least wanted (and others) to enjoy the Namco 163 over the KMT remake. The Namco 163 does sound superior afterall. I had no idea you guys were doing it at all. I guess I should just drop this project since it's in better hands. It was fun while it lasted ;_;

Seriously though, I'm not sure. Maybe magical vacation on GBA but I'm not feeling that at the moment. Guess I'm gonna hold off on this for a while but it was a fun experience. Using bytes to manipulate the game beyond just editing text was something that blew my mind.

There are about 7 similar board games for the SNES that have never been translated. At the moment I believe only one is being worked on (Sugoro Quest). I'll probably take on one of them after I'm done with ChaCha.

That's the old screenshot. Anyhow, I personally don't care what you do with the game. So you're welcome to continue working on it.

I will say that a lot of new users don't realize that there are generic tools available that can make dealing with text incredibly easy. Imagine rebuilding a game's script with the click of a button? No more spending hours in a hex editor manually editing a script.

There are about 7 similar board games for the SNES that have never been translated. At the moment I believe only one is being worked on (Sugoro Quest). I'll probably take on one of them after I'm done with ChaCha.

I've been working on Monster Maker Kids, and I has a start on Super Uno.

That's the old screenshot. Anyhow, I personally don't care what you do with the game. So you're welcome to continue working on it.

I will say that a lot of new users don't realize that there are generic tools available that can make dealing with text incredibly easy. Imagine rebuilding a game's script with the click of a button? No more spending hours in a hex editor manually editing a script.

Well as I've established before, I'm sort of glad to know the game is in much better hands, and that's why I'm quitting. My methods were definitely more primitive than yours. Nice picture by the way! I personally can't wait until you're finished with that.

I've been working on Monster Maker Kids, and I has a start on Super Uno.

Awesome. I didn't even know there was a Super Uno, but then again the only games of this sort that i've checked out were the ones similar to Sugoro Quest, Monster Maker, Yuujin no Furi Furi Girls, etc. I wish someone had translated some of these already. They'd be fun with the SNES muli-tap and a group of friends. I own one that came with Super Bomberman 5 (I think..?) and it just doesn't get used often enough.

Quoting this post again because I feel like doing Square's Tom Sawyer. I've already started it actually but I've encountered a weird problem of being able to find the intro and continue/load/options text, but when the game starts I can't seem to find any of it. I was reading about how the game's text might be compressed. Do all NES games use the same compression technique or are those techniques unique to each game?

Some dont use compression at all. Some do Its a matter of luck with trial and error to see whats workable and what requires a "little more."

It's kind of weird, but yeah I can't just find the text like I usually do. I found it in the RAM though, and saw that it was at address 6482 so I went to that address in the debugger and saw this:

Text -> アメリカがっしゅうこく

I checked with the PPU first to see the byte values, and when I couldn't find it in the ROM and I randomly checked the RAM and saw a match. In the Debugger, the values match, but it says some weird stuff that I don't quite understand. I was hoping to at least make a tiny modification and grow upon that but it's a bit confusing.

6482:CE EF F5 DEC $F5EF = #$4A

Can anyone translate what is happening here? I've coded before but I've never really done assembly. I know that CE EF F5 is ア メ リ, but then there's that weird DEC $F5EF = #$4A line.

Could you consider the translation of the first Persona title on PS1? I'm talking about "Megami Ibunroku Persona: Be Your True Mind" (the japanese version).

I've never done PS1 games, but I could try. I don't feel like giving up on Sawyer since it's an interesting challenge, but yeah, why not in the future? That's actually one of the games I've searched a translation for since I wasn't too interested in the PSP remake or localized revelations.

No promises though, lol. I don't consider myself that great at doing this. If it weren't for FCEUX Debug options I'd have a lot more trouble.

Awesome! Even someone only thinking about it makes me feel better. Maybe someday it'll be done. No pressure at all, man. Just focus on your own stuff and if you'll ever get to translating it you'll have me following it all the way. I wish I could understand japanese. I'd be more than willing to help in these translations.

Awesome! Even someone only thinking about it makes me feel better. Maybe someday it'll be done. No pressure at all, man. Just focus on your own stuff and if you'll ever get to translating it you'll have me following it all the way. I wish I could understand japanese. I'd be more than willing to help in these translations.

Could I ask why you're interested in Persona 1's Japanese translation? I'd guess your only reason for wanted to play it is the soundtrack, maybe? There already exists a patch (not sure if I can link it here, maybe I can PM it) that replaces the whole OST with its PSX counterpart. I believe both games differ only in soundtrack, right?